Ana will play at PGL Arlington Major

The PGL Arlington Major 2022 will be full of stand-ins. It seems that the ongoing global crises have caused a lot of visa issues and more than half a dozen players will miss the Dota 2 tournament, along with Xtreme Gaming.

One of the players that need to be replaced is Daniel “Ghost” Chan Kok Hong from Royal Never Give Up. He is the team’s carry, and RNG is one of the most important competitors in China. They’re very close to securing a top 12 spot in the Dota Pro Circuit, so the player’s absence is hugely problematic.

RNG’s Chances

Right now, only two Chinese teams are ranked in the top 12 and one of them, Team Aster, is occupying the 12th position with 940 points. This means that China risks having just one directly invited representative at The International 11 – PSG.LGD.

This situation hasn’t been seen in the history of Dota 2. Chinese teams have always been very strong and the tournament usually featured four or five of them. An edition of The International with only a few competitors from this region would be a disaster for the esport.

RNG currently have 738 points and they will probably need around 300 more to qualify directly. What that means is this: the team needs to finish in the top eight and ideally, in the top six. Such a result at PGL Arlington Major would guarantee their spot at TI11.

Bringing in ana

Anathan “ana” Pham used to be the best carry player in the world. However, he hasn’t been training properly and his performance at the most recent tournament, Riyadh Masters 2022, where he played as a stand-in for Team Liquid, finished with a poor result for the team.

Another obvious problem that ana will face while playing for RNG is the language barrier. He’s an Australian while his teammates speak very little English. Chinese teams are usually made up exclusively of Chinese players. This will be a rare exception to the rule, and everyone is sceptical about it.

If RNG are to succeed, they will need to play around ana or just ignore him completely and hope that he knows how to play the role without too much input.

Fortunately for RNG, group A or Arlington Major will be easier than group A. And since six teams will qualify for the playoffs, it’s expected that they won’t fail to do that. However, once the playoffs begin, RNG will need to win at least one or two matches to get the job done. And it will not be easy.

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